


Public Approval

by rotaryphones



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Book 4: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2008-06-11
Updated: 2008-06-11
Packaged: 2017-10-26 18:56:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,823
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/286767
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rotaryphones/pseuds/rotaryphones
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Cedric cannot figure out Harry for the life of him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Public Approval

Cedric couldn’t take his eyes off of Harry, and by the end of the Wand Weighing Ceremony he was driving himself quite insane.  The final photos were taken and the Champions were all leaving, and before he could stop himself, Cedric sidled up to Harry and whispered, “Can I have a word?”

Harry practically jumped in alarm, but then nodded warily.  “Sure.”

They ducked into the first empty classroom they found.  Cedric immediately shut the door behind them, and then spun around, unable to hold it in any longer.  “How do you _do_ it?”

Harry blinked at him.  His entire body language made it clear that he did not want to be there, and didn’t quite trust Cedric’s intentions.  “Do what?”  He eyed Cedric suspiciously.  “Is this about the Goblet?”

“What?  No.  No, of course not.”  Cedric really should have thought this through first.  Or at least figured out what he was going to say before he jumped down this poor kid’s throat.  Or maybe just kept his mouth shut entirely.  “No, I mean how do you, I don’t know, get yourself out of _bed_ in the morning?”

Now Harry was looking at Cedric like he was a nutter – which he probably was, trying to have this conversation in the first place.  “I swing my legs over the side –“

“Don’t be smart, that’s not what I meant.  I mean how do you deal with all the…”  Cedric gestured vaguely towards the door.  “…hostility?”

“Oh.  That.”  Harry shrugged, continuing to look at Cedric like he was mental.  “Don’t have much of a choice, do I?”  Despite the bitter undertone to the statement, Harry sounded mostly indifferent.  Either that or he feigned indifference quite well.

And that was the part that Cedric couldn’t wrap his head around.  How was Harry doing it?  How was he coping?

The moment Cedric had been declared the Hogwarts Champion had been one of the best moments of his short life, as embarrassing as it was to admit.  He had never felt so – worthy.  Like he finally had the chance to _earn_ the admiration of others.  Nothing could have spoiled his mood, not even a mortified-looking Harry Potter who would be sharing his title.  The news had shocked him, of course, but it didn’t matter in the end; Harry was just a kid.  Boy Who Lived or not, he wouldn’t be much competition.

It wasn’t until Cedric had returned to his common room that his euphoria was first punctured.  His mates congratulated him heartily for about two seconds before going off on a rampage about that Potter brat.  What should have been Cedric’s moment to shine quickly turned into Harry’s, despite his fellow Hufflepuffs’ good intentions.  Cedric couldn’t help feeling slightly resentful.

But what made it worse, much worse, was that all the verbal abuse eventually made him feel _sorry_ for Harry.  And after that, Cedric couldn’t resent him.  Not properly.  More than once, Cedric’s mates tried to convince him to join in on the Potter-bashing, but he always refrained.  His mates complained that he was too nice.  Cedric didn’t tell them it was out of pity, not kindness.

Things escalated from there.  In the weeks that followed, Cedric began watching Harry Potter constantly.  And his pity had slowly turned into frustrating bewilderment.  It seemed that Harry didn’t even notice the harassment in the halls.  He ignored the badges, did nothing to stop the snide remarks he attracted wherever he went.  In his place, Cedric would have either thrown a curse or run into the nearest bathroom to skive off classes for the rest of his life.  True, he was no Gryffindor, but what did bravery have to do with just standing there and…weathering it?  Like it didn’t even matter?

Cedric took a deep breath and tried again to explain himself.  “But doesn’t it _bother_ you?  How can you be so calm about it?”

“Yeah, of course it bothers me,” Harry said in mounting frustration.  “But what do you expect me to do?  It’s not like I haven’t dealt with everyone hating me before.”

This momentarily stopped Cedric in his tracks, and it took a second to realize what Harry was referring to.  Two years ago, Cedric had been among the students afraid for their lives.  He had almost forgotten that at one point that fear had been directed at Harry.

“Is that it?” Harry asked, already moving toward the door.

“Yeah.  Wait, no – if you don’t care what people think, then why did you put your name in the Goblet?”

Harry shot him an angry glare and promptly left, leaving Cedric to puzzle over this kid he still didn’t understand, and the questions he still didn’t have answers for.

  


*   *   *

Cedric hadn’t really planned on ambushing Harry Potter a second time.  But they happened to be passing each other in an empty corridor right outside the empty classroom from before.  Without thinking, Cedric had grabbed his wrist and tugged him inside.

It was a testament to Harry’s recent upswing in mood that he didn’t complain.  He simply crossed his arms and asked, “Well?  What do you want this time?”

It was no surprise Harry was in better spirits lately.  Outmaneuvering his dragon with the finesse of a professional tamer had finally earned Harry the approval of most of Hogwarts once again.  And although Harry didn’t know it yet, he had won Cedric’s respect as well.  It was bloody frustrating to have his opinions of Harry shift on him again, but he couldn’t help it.  How could Cedric feel sorry for a kid who could fly like _that_?

“I – I wanted to apologize,” Cedric said.

Harry immediately lost his confrontational air.  “For what?” he asked in surprise.

“I don’t know,” Cedric replied, because once again he hadn’t thought this through.  Once again, Harry was looking at him like a nutter.  “I guess for being a bit of a prat before.”

Harry shrugged.  “Forget about it.”

“But not just that.  I’m sorry for…underestimating you.  Seeing you face your dragon the other day…”  Cedric shook his head and gathered his thoughts.  What he had seen in the first task had affected him in a way he couldn’t quite articulate to himself, let alone to Harry.  It was something about the shock of viewing Harry as an equal for the first time.  “I think before I just thought of you as some titchy kid.  But, Merlin.  You were amazing out there.”

“Er, thanks,” Harry replied.  “I heard you were pretty fantastic, too.”

Cedric shrugged.  He was proud of his accomplishments and didn’t usually go in for false modesty, but he couldn’t exactly brag to the kid who had outperformed him.  “I was all right.  Didn’t get off scot-free, but at least we both survived, yeah?”  He let out a small laugh, and was relieved to see Harry finally smile back.  “You know, I think I finally understand why you put your name in that Goblet.”

Harry immediately tensed, and the smile vanished.  “I didn’t put my name in,” he said in a cold voice.

Cedric rolled his eyes, unsure as to why Harry still felt the need to deny what the whole school already knew.  “I’m not angry about it, you know.”

“ _I didn’t put it in_ ,” Harry repeated.

Cedric was about to humor him and move on, when he suddenly caught sight of Harry’s expression.  And something clicked.  Some missing piece to Harry’s puzzle finally fell into place, and for a moment he could only stare in shock.  “You’re serious, aren’t you?”

Harry nodded in relief, his shoulders sagging.  “Took you long enough.”

Cedric took a step closer, shaking his head in amazement.  “But – you must be completely _mental_!”  Harry looked up at him in surprise.  “You faced a dragon, and you mean to tell me it was by some – some _fluke_?  And you just went along with it?”

“I didn’t have a choice,” Harry answered nervously.  Cedric was now standing very close to him, breathing heavily and marveling.  Everything made so much more sense now.  Harry really _didn’t_ want the glory.  And he wasn’t doing it for the approval.  Harry had faced a bloody vicious dragon, and he hadn’t been trying to prove _anything_.  That didn’t make Harry Cedric’s equal; that made him something else _entirely_.

Feeling his opinion of Harry rapidly shift once again, Cedric brought his head down and pressed his lips hard against Harry’s mouth.  Because there was something about a kid who could take on a dragon and ask for nothing in return that was bloody _hot_.

Harry froze under him with unresponsive lips.  Suddenly, reality punched Cedric in the gut and he quickly pulled away.  That couldn’t have just happen.  He took a step back, wanting to deny it, but the pressure of the kiss seemed to linger in confirmation.

Harry unconsciously dragged the back of his hand over his lips, and very quietly asked, “What the hell was that?”

“Oh shit.  Oh Merlin.  I’m so sorry.”  Cedric bolted for the door, but Harry beat him to it with a quick spell, and it refused to open.  Cedric spun around, pressing his back against it in utter, irrational fear.

Harry just stared at him for a while in confusion.  “You can’t – you can’t do that, Cedric.  You can’t just… _kiss_ me, and then try to run away!”

“Yeah, well, not all of us are Gryffindors,” Cedric muttered in his panic, back still pressed tight against the door.

Harry sighed.  “For Merlin’s sake, Cedric, I’m not going to attack you!  You could have, I don’t know, _warned_ me or something.”

Warn him?  That implied that Cedric had realized what he was doing.  That implied forethought, or thought, period.  That implied something other than a vast, awful mistake.  “Look, that _really_ wasn’t supposed to happen.  I don’t even know why I did.  I didn’t mean to, and I don’t even _like_ boys – like that – I swear!”  Cedric knew he was rambling, but his thoughts were just as jumbled as his tongue.  And for some unfathomable reason, by the look on his face, Harry was finding all of this _amusing_.

“It’s okay if you do, you know,” Harry said with a small shrug.  “It’s not like I care.  Just, yeah.  Just warn me next time.”

Cedric took a few steadying breaths, willing himself back to rational thought.  “So, you’re not upset?”

“It was hardly even a kiss.  Not much to get upset about, I guess.”

Cedric closed his eyes and his gut clenched as a new problem presented itself, the most terrifying prospect of all.  “Harry.  Please, please promise me you won’t tell anyone about this.”

When he opened his eyes again, Harry was grinning at him and shaking his head.  “You know Cedric,” he said, “I think you need to stop worrying so much about what people think.”

Cedric slumped back against the door.  Maybe Harry was right.  And maybe that had been his problem all along.


End file.
